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itteiricine a Science aub an 2lrt.

A LECTURE

INTRODUCTORY TO THE COURSE

IN THB

MEDICAL INSTITUTION OF GEXEVA COLLEGE:

BY C. B. COVENTRY, M. D.

Professor of Obst. I B in J Children, and

DELiyEBED MAEOH 7th, 1850.

1>I IIMNHII) BY THE CLA§8,

GENEVA, N. V.: ; <•>. S B. PA-BKBB, PRINTERS

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F. W. Putnam.

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Geneva MlDiriLCoLlEOB, April 5, 1850.

i'EOE C. D COVENTBT

Dbar Sib,

At a meeting of the Medical Cluia neM on tho 2nd lmt .,— Mr M. Tlradbury, Chairman, and Mr. ]■'.. I) I'oweri, Socrotary,— tbe undereiirned were ep pointed a commlttoe to solicit for publication a copy of your abloand intonating Addreti delivered at tho opening uf tho praa«nt Session

I'ermlt ua, Sir, to assure you of tho peculiar pleasure it would give uf Individually to aoo, at (i tlmo when error and false protei don ram 10 ready an access to tho public eai, the general dissemination of tho truo and juat aentimonta contained in your Address Very respectfully, youra

ALFRED BOBOfSOM,

CHARLES M I I

II. KMMI'TT ROBERTS,

ALBERT I TUTTLE,

0.0. KAR8HA1 .!.,— Committrt

To Messes ItoniNsoN, LIB, Marihai.l, Hodebts Ann Tt'TTLB i

GENTLEMEN:

Your polite note of the 5th, askinii on beh&lf of tho Medical Class, • copy of my Introductory Lecture for pubUi Ntftxl I'ermit

mo to thank you, and through you tho Class for this mark of nttontiou and respect The Lecture wan written amidst tho prossuro of other avocations, and I fear is scarce worthy the compliment paid to it. It was, however, written for tho Class , and if they deem It worthy a more dasirablo form, is at their service.

Most respectfully and truly youra,

C D. COVENTRY Ojskeva Medu'aL Collbwe, April 0, 1850.

MITTEE OF PUBLICATION.

Geneva, April 6, 1850. At a meeting of the Medical Class of Geneva College, the un- dersigned were appointed a counnitteo of publication of the Intro- ductory Address of Prof. C. 13. Covi:ntrv.

CHARLES II. KELLY, BEN* BALE, Jr. GEORGE ABBOTT, WM. S. BARKER, DAVID V. WAITE.

ADDRESS

Gentlemen :

The revolution of a year finds us once more assembled in these halls dedicated to science, to renew the interesting relation of instructor and pupil. In behalf of my col- leagues and myself, I would bid you welcome. Your presence on this occasion is an earnest that you are actua- ted by no sordid or mercenary motive ; that you appreci- ate the responsibilities of the profession you have chosen ; and are determined to qualify yourselves for the faithful discharge of its high duties. Tcnuit me to congratulate you, and to return thanks to the great Ruler of the world, that whilst during the present year disease and death have ravaged the country and hurried many to an early an un- timely grave, we have been spared and permitted once more to assemble and to renew those ties which bind to- gether persons engaged in the same common pursuit.

As preliminary to entering on the several departments, I have boon requested by my colleagues to address you on the general subject of our profession.

What is the profession of medicine r Is it a science or ;m art, 01 the two combined? The term physician is de- rived from a Greek word " Phuis," Nature ; and a phy-

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sician literally means a student of nature. It is to be re- gretted that it should ever have been wrested from its original signification. The word surgeon, or chirurgeon was derived from two Greek words which signify hand and work, or work of the hand ; and applied more appro- priately to the olden time when the same individual prac- tised the joint profession of surgeon and barber, or when the whole art of surgery consisted in the operative. In modern times the head has come to be considered quite as important to the surgeon as the hand ; still as so much de- pends on the skill of the operator it may with more pro- priety be termed an art than some other departments of the profession. The word Doctor has been most sadly perverted in this country from its original meaning. It is derived from the Latin doctus, learned, or doceo, to teach, and applies equally to either of the other learned profes- sions as to medicine.

In Great Britain the term doctor is never used to signi- fy a particular profession. The terms physician and sur- geon, and apothecary are used to designate the several branches of medical practice, and the degree of Doctor of Medicine is only applied as is the term Doctor of Divinity, or Law. The degree of M. D. is only conferred as an honorary title on such as have acquired distinction in the profession. The general application of the term doctor in this country to every person who prescribes, or deals in medicine, is a most gross perversion of its original meaning. The proper designation for one who practices the profes- sion of medicine would be Physician and Surgeon. The Physician is, strictly what the term implies, a student of nature. In earlier times persons who were engaged in the study of the different branches of natural history were

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termed physicians, but the whole science presented too broad a field for a single mind, and, as if by common con- sent, the term physician was restricted tothosewho stud- ied nature with reference to the prevention of disease or the restoration of health.

We dwell on this subject because the meaning of terms often becomes so perverted by use that it is only by tra- cing them to their origin that we are able to understand their true import. A Physician then, is a student of na- ture, one who studies not for mere amusement, but to ap_ ply his knowledge to the noblest of all purposes, that of relieving the sufferings of his fellow men: whilst the term Philosopher, or lover of learning, is used to d< '>ne

who embraces in his studies the whole circle of the scien-

Yon perceive then that the study of medicine embr the whole domain of nature, whatever influences the health and life 0f man ; as theair he breathes, the food that nour- ishes the body, the water he drinks; the temperature of the air ns well as his condition morally, socially and po- litieallv, are all within the Legitimate sphere of his re- searches, as well as the numerous articles of the Materia Medica used for the removal of disease.

[f we look around us and witness the regular succession of the seasons, of day and night, summer and winter, seed time and harvest, we must soon be satisfied that these are

; matters of chance, but occur in accordance with some great law implanted in them by their Creator. If we ex- amine more closely we find that the minutest affairs of hie are governed by the same immutable laws, the same principle that attracts the (ailing apple to the earth, holds the planets in their course. It is only by the immutability 2

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ol these laws that man is able to subdue all earth to his use, and by a study and knowledge of them that he makes the elements his ministering agents. 'Tis by this that he makes the fire his companion, and the lightning his mes- senger and his servant. The animal creation seem im- pelled by certain internal impulses to perform those acts which are necessary for their nourishment and preserva- tion, and this without the aid of reason and reflection ; but man is endowed with these instinctive propensities in a comparatively slight degree, and it is only by knowing and obeying the natural laws by which he is surrounded that life can be maintained. It is this which constitutes the distinction between man and animals, and it is the more perfect knowledge of these laws which makes the distinc- tion between man in a savage and civilized state. Let ug take the simplest illustration. A knowledge of the prop- erties and uses of fire belongs exclusively to man. Yet man even in the savage state (all but the very lowest) has sufficient knowledge of its law to know its use in supply- ing warmth, and that it can only be maintained by a reg- ular supply of fuel ; but his fire is built in the open air where he is exposed to cold winds and rain, or in the cen- ter of his wigwam where the smoke and soot render it rather a nuisance than a blessing. Compare this with its use in civilized life where a better knowledge of its laws enables us to warm our apartments and dwellings with- out the inconvenience of smoke ; to cook our food, and by its property of expanding fluids and generating steam, to do the work of millions of hands, to plow the ocean with splendid palaces, and to propel the car along the iron track, with the velocity of the wind. Look at the agriculturist, he has no power to make a single blade of

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grass to grow, and yet he plants his seed in the earth with the most perfect assurance of reaping a rich reward for all his labors; such is his confidence in the unerring laws of nature. He knows that the conditions for the germina- tion of seeds are warmth, moisture, light and electricity. By preserving his seed in a cool, dry and dark situation it will keep for years; but by selecting the proper season and then committing it to the earth, where it meets the conditions necessary for its growth, it germinates. Some- thing more than mere germination is necessary, the soil must be properly prepared in order to permit the roots to ramify in every direction in search of moisture and nour- ishment. Again, the soil and air must contain all tli ments necessary for its nutrition, or it soon withers and dies. The same warmth, moisture and nourishment that -causes the grain to vegetate stimulates into life or activity the thousands of seed which the soil contain must be extirpated or they choke the young plant and suck up the nourishment intended for its growth ; all these conditions must be known and fulfilled. Why is one man more successful than another, but that he fulfils more per- fectly the Laws or conditions of vegetable life and growth 1 What a difference between the scientific agriculturalist who knows and obeys, or fulfils these1 laws, and the igno- rant routinist who merely does what he has seen others do before without stopping to enquire why or wherefore?* The farmer may have but partially fulfilled the condi- tions, then he is not entirely disappointed but has a sickly, feeble and imperfect crop. Let us proceed one step fur-

* The scientific study and cultivation of agriculture has within a few years elevated it from one of the humblest to one of the most interesting and • Invnted, and at the same time one of the most useful occupations of man.

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ther. The scientific agriculturalist propagates and breeds his domestic animals with almost the same certainty as he raises his crop of grain, by learning and obeying the laws or conditions of their organization. How much has been accomplished in improving the different races of domes- tic animals by studying the laws of propagation? Com- pare the beauty and fleetness of the blooded races, with the miserable apology for a horse we see in our streets, or the coarse wool of the common sheep with the silky soft- ness and fineness of the saxon. The same law of vitality (modified, it is true, by a thousand contingent circumstan- ces) which applies to animals applies also to man. Can we suppose for a moment that whilst the vegetation and growth of the humblest violet is governed by fixed and established laws, that whilst we see this principle perva- ding all nature, that man, the last and noblest work of creation is left to the mere caprice of chance, and that sickness, disease and death are the result of accident? Truly has it been said not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of your Father which is in heaven, and the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Man is so elevated in constitution, so complicated and refined in structure, so surrounded by contingent circumstances as to render the laws which govern his life and health infinite- ly complex. With our present and imperfect knowledge it is impossible to know and fulfil them with the same cer- tainty as in the vegetable or even in the animal creation ; but that they are as fixed and immutable no one can doubt. The study and investigation of these laws as they ap- ply to man is the study in which we are engaged, it is the study of medicine. What nobler study could engage the mind of man than that of his Creator's will as manifested

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in his noblest work ! Or to what holier use could he ap- ply his knowledge tban in relieving the sufferings of his fellow men !

Medicine then is the science of life, and the art of apply- ing that science to prevent and relieve the sufFerino-s of our fellow men. It has sometimes, by way of derision, been termed " ars conjecturalis," or in other words, the art of guessing. But can a science which has its founda- tion in the immutable laws of nature be termed a conjec- tural art '? Does the husbandman when he sows his seed merely guess that it will grow? Our knowledge is ob- tained from three sources. First, the known, established and immutable laws of nature, as it regards propagation, growth or development and nourishment of the animal economy. Second, the accumulated and recorded expe- rience of others (or ages, as to the causes and symptoms of disease. And third, from personal observation and ex- perience.* All disease, no doubt, arises from a violation of the laws or conditions of health. It may be from igno- rant or wilful violation on 1 he part of the individual ; or it may be from a violation of those laws on the part of his progenitors ; or may arise from causes be}~ond his control : thus in cases of some epidemic diseases the atmosphere may be so much deranged that no care or precaution would protect the individual against disease. Still there

"It is feared that there are some in t'uo practice of the profession who ha\e but little or no knowledge of tho first, but n limited knowledge of the second, and profit but little by tho third ; but who, like the ngriculturaliit without fcience, goes plodding on year after year in the same course he had seen liis instructor before him. In other words, he is a rontiniet in medicine, knowing as little of the principles of his profession as the routine agricultu- ralist knows of his.

iaii?i ntiuvva id ma.

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•can be no question that much the larger portion of disease arises from causes within our control.*

Let us now briefly examine the manner in which it is proposed to accomplish this object, or in medical phrase, to fulfil the indication.

The Professor of Chemistry will show you the elemen- tary principles out of which this vast fabric of the uni- verse is formed. He will demonstrate the composition of the air we breathe, the water we drink ; and will prove to you that infinitely varied as are the products of nature, i they are all formed from a few simple elements, not ex-

* This truth has been very strongly illustrated by the prevalence of the cholera during tho present year both in Europe and this country. The Reg- ister General of England, in his report, says : " The population of England has suffered, died and decreased during the quarter to a degree of which there is no example during the present century. The annual mortality of the summer quarter of 1849 exceeding the quarterly average by 53 per cent. The excess has been caused almost entirely by cholera. In some districts the people have died by hundreds or by thousands ; in others not far distant few have died, the inhabitants have been unusually healthy." The Register General very justly attributes this difference to the existence of local caus. es of the disease, which might be removed or corrected. We have seen tho same facts strongly illustrated in this country. The city of Utica, with a population of aboat 15,000, is situated on the great thoroughfare from east to west in the State of New York. The Erie canal passes through the centre of the city ; and boats with cholera patients were continually passing and re- passing. No pains were taken to exclude persons with the disease from en- tering the city, but the public authorities were indefatigable in their efforts to cleanse and purify the city, and the citizens were urged by the Board of Health to guard against the exciting causes of the disease, and in case of any indication of its approach to apply at once to their physicians. The re- sult was that not a case of cholera was reported to the Board of Health ; the actual mortality, as shown by the sexton's report, was 54 less than the year previous, and but 26 more than tho average for the five preceeding years, though the population has materially increased during that time. Too much credit can scarce be awarded to our worthy mayor, Thomas R. Walker, Esq., for his exertions in producing this happy result.

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ceeding fifty-five ; and that only about one third of them are found in the animal economy. He will demonstrate the properties of each, show how they combine and re- combino, and how such combination differs from the origi- nal elements ; and lastly, how they form the compound elements, or elements of the animal tissues.

Tli.- Professor of Anatomy will show you how these tis- sues combine to form the several organs, unravelling with the dissecting knife this beautiful and complicated fabric. He will exhibit to you muscles, tendons, bones, cartilages, blood vessels and nerves, in the order and arrangement in which they are placed by the great Architect of Nature. In short, he will exhibit and demonstrate to you each part, each organ and each fibre in the most complicated and most perfect machine ever made. But this wonderful cre- ation is still inanimate, a machine without motion. How is it endowed with life ?

It is stated in the language of scripture that " God said let us make man in our own image, after our likeness ; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female createdhe them." " And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." From that moment to the present the vital spark then breathed into his nos- trils has been handed down from generation to generation. Physiology will teach you how this vital principle is transmitted, developed, sustained and nourished. It will show you with what " nice adaptation and adjustment man

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is fitted to the universe in which he is placed ; the marvel- lous reach and energy with which the narrow organs of our narrow bodies extend their cognizance and display their power. The nervous filaments are finer than a spi- der's thread, yet they are the avenues of communication between the world without and the world within. They spread themselves out over a little space at the root of the tongue and all the savors of nature become tributary to our pleasure. They unfold themselves over a little space in the olfactory organs, and we catch the perfumes of all the zones. They are ramified over a little space in the hollow of the ear, and the myriad voices of nature, from the shrill insect, or the mellifluous song-bird to the organ- tones of heaven's eathrcdral — the thunder — the cataract and the ocean become our orchestra. They line a spot in die interior of the eye so small that a tip of the finger might cover it : when lo ! the earth and the heaven to the remotest constellations that seem to glitter feebly on the confines of space, are painted, quick as thought, in the chambers of the brain. By these senses we hold connec- tion with all external things, as though millions of tele- graphic wires were stretched from every outward object and came in converging lines to find their forms in our or- gans, and through these inlets to pour their pictures, their odors and their songs into the all-capacious brain. Nay, better than this, for we have the pictures, the perfumes and the music without the incumbrance of the wires."

But this mechanism so beautiful, so perfect, is surround- ed by agencies which are constantly operating for good or evil. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat may serve to sustain and nourish or to poison the system. How is this to be known without study and

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investigation ? We have learned from chemistry the con- stituents of a healthy atmosphere, and the elementary principles of which the body is composed. Physiology teaches us that such an air is essential to life, and that the body has no power of creating new materials, but must be supplied in due proportions with those of which it is composed, or it languishes or dies. We find then that life and health are not matters of chance, but governed by laws as immutable as those which hold the planets in their course.

The Professor of Theory and Practice will explain to you that disease and death are produced by a violation of these natural laws, the symptoms of the different diseases, and the mode of interrogating nature for their detection. He will teach you that in the management of disease the first step is to learn the cause, seat, nature, and natural termination. If possible, to remove the cause, and place the patient in the most favorable condition as to air, light, food and drink. Having done this, the next question is whether nature can be further aided in her efforts of res- toration. There may be irritating matters in the stomach or intestines that require to be expelled, or there may be some conditions of the system requiring to be changed by medical agents. Do not, however, indulge the supposi- tion too often entertained by the illiterate, that there is a specific virtue in medicinal agents rendering them antago- nistic of disease. The physician can no more cure dis- ease than the farmer can make his grain or grass to grow ; all that he can do is to place his patient in the most favor- able condition for his recovery, trusting to the laws of na- ture for the result. Often medicinal agents may be un-

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necessary, but if given, the indication should be clear, and the effect expected to be produced well understood.

The Professor ol Materia Medica and General Pathol- ogy will show you the consequences of disease, the chan- ges in structure, and how death is produced. He, too, will exhibit the armory for combatting disease. You will see that every department of nature has been ransacked. The earth and sea, the animal, the vegetable, and mineral kingdoms have all been made to contribute their quota ; and science has been exhausted in her efforts to detect and separate the active principle from the inert mass. You sometimes hear persons talk of Botanic physicians as if he who drew his resources from a single kingdom of na- ture was wiser or better than one who selected what was valuable from all.

The Professor of Surgery will instruct you in the art of managing those physical ills which affect the exterior of the body, and the various operations which may become necessary to save life or remove disease.

The Professor of Obstetrics will instruct in the cure and attention due to woman in the most important and critical periods of their lives, when not only the health, but the life of both mother and child is intrusted to your care. He will demonstrate to you that there is no department of your profession demanding more skill, more intelligence and self-possession. He shows you that in the more criti- cal cases the life of the patient is actually dependent on the skill of her attendant ; that there is no time to send for council, none for reference to books, none for reflection. Does he hesitate ? his patient is dead. A moment has decided her fate. One moment sooner and his skill might

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have saved her ; now, worlds cannot restore her to life ! Who would dare to assume such fearful responsibilities without a conviction that they are fully prepared for every emergency.

Medical Jurisprudence teaches you how this knowledge is made available, in aiding the laws of our countiy, in elucidating questions of jurisprudence, in convicting the guilty and protecting the innocent.

It is not, however, the physical causes of disease, as the crowded and heated apartment, the impure air, the un- wholesome food and drink, and the inclement season that are the only sources of disease in civilized life. Man is not a mere animal : were it so our task would be com- paratively light. The diseases of the savages are few and simple, but with every step we take in civilization we find they become more numerous, more complicated, and more difficult of removal. In civilized life, the moral, the so- cial, the political and religious atmosphere with which we arc surrounded, all have an influence in producing or pre- venting disease. It is a well established law of the animal economy that moderate exercise of all the functions is es- sential to their well being ; that over or extraordinary exer- tion, if long continued, produces exhaustion ; and if per- sisted in, disintegration and eventual destruction of the part ; and that over exertion of one with a want of exer- cise in the other parts produces irregular circulation and eventual disease. A moderate stimulus and exercise of the mind as well as the body, alternating with periods of repose, is favorable to health ; but that social condition which stimulates the intellect and the feelings to the ut- most verge of endurance, to plunge them again into a state of despondence is as unfavorable to the physical as it is to

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the moral health of community. It is true that our dwell- ings, intended to protect us from the inclement season, are too often made, by the crowding bf apartments, the con- fined, impure and heated atmosphere, the fountains of dis- ease. Our food, which should be taken only to sustain and nourish the system ; — the stomach, stimulated by condiments — is forced to take what nature's self would loathe. But the great cause of disease in civilized life is the constant and unnecessary stimulus and exertion of the nervous system, often to the entire neglect of exercise of the muscular.

Scarce is the infant enabled to lisp the name of mother when what is termed education commences. The brain, still imperfectly organized, is stimulated to unnatural ex- ertion, by praise, by bribery, and often by exciting some of the worst passions of our nature, rivalry and jealousy. Fortunate is the child if the over taxed brain does not succumb and end in disease or death. If the individual is so fortunate as to escape the perils which surround his childhood, and arrive at an age to enter upon the active duties of life, the same dangers await him. Whether he enters the arena of political strife, or commercial specula- tion, or the less exciting avocation of professional life, success and distinction are only to be attained by unwear- ied exertion, by days of anxious toil and restless nights. The nervous system is continually taxed beyond its strength, and it is as unreasonable to suppose that this can continue without producing disease, as to suppose the tired muscle can continue to labor without repose. Just as he has reached the goal of his wishes the demon dys- pepsia has seized him, his mental powers languish, his vigor is exhausted, his food, instead of nourishing, produ-

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ces pain and distress, and he either sinks into an untimely grave or dragl out a life of suffering and misery. Like the votaries of wealth in Europe, who go to the East Indies m make their fortunes; they often accomplish their ohject and return to Europe with broken health, and die leaving their money to be enjoyed by others. Those of you who practice in the cities will find nervous affections, M they are termed, among the most frequent and intractable di-< ri- ses which you will be called upon to treat. In the main, they arise from unnecessary, never-ending effort of the brain. In females from an unnatural and vicious mode of education, where the feelings and emotions have been cul- tivated at the expense of the intellect and neglect of the moral sentiments, whilst sedentary habits and want of muscular exercise enervates the body, novel reading and company stimulate the brain to undue excitement, which, when the temporary excitement is over sinks back into a state of apathy, until anew novel or some new excitement again arouses the energies ; thus the feelings and emotions are in a constant state of alternate excitement and depres-

sion

Literary men are particularly liable to suffer from an over-wrought brain, as their occupation is almost unceas- ing and gives them no time for muscular exercise, and they live in constant violation of the laws of health. When Nature begins to cry out and complain of this constant vi- olation of her laws, they apply to their physician. If he is candid, he will tell them they are committing suicide, andean only be saved by abandoning their occupation ; but they answer this is impossible, they must be cured without giving up business. Finding no satislaction from the regular profession, they try the irregular; they pur-

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chase a box of pills which are an infallible remedy for con- stipation or dyspepsia, or for the liver complaint ; they try to regulate their diet, live on brown bread, take a lit- tle more exercise, and imagine they are a little better, but still continue to work the over-wrought brain ; they re- lapse and are as bad or worse than ever. At length some- thing must be done. A friend recommends a Hydropathic establishment, and they at last determine to try it. The brain is now permitted to rest, pure air, simple and nour- ishing food with regular exercise produce their natural ef- fect, whilst wet sheets are thrown in by way of amuse- ment. At the end of eight or ten weeks he returns with improved health and satisfied to have paid eight or ten dollars per week for luxuries which he spurned when of- fered gratuitously by the hand of Nature ; thinks Hydro- pathy a sovereign cure for all the ills of life, and rails against the regular profession because they could not ar- rest the laws of Nature and give him health when living in constant violation of all its precepts. He returns to his former occupation and habits and soon his enemy returns, and he is compelled to resort again to Hydropathy with less confidence than before. After years of suffering he is forced to admit what was told him from the beginning that his mode of living is incompatible with health.

Do not imagine that the importance of your profession, the benevolence of its object or the integrity of its purpose will shield you from calumny and reproach. You will find learned editors whose knowledge of medicine is derived from reading a manual on Homoeopathy or a hand book of Hydropathy, who will denounce as murderers, men who have devoted years of toil and labor in the acquisition of their profession ; men whose days and nights have been

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devoted to relieving the sufferings of their fellow men. You will find able jurists who have never heard of any other law than that contained in the statute book, and who scarce know enough of Nature's laws to know the composition of the air they breathe : clergymen who nev- er dreamed of any other revelation than that contained in the scriptures, who deride without hesitation questions of medicinal doctrine and practice where those who have grown gray in the profession would pause and hesitate. Truly has it been said "where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." It has been said of surgeons that there are two classes of bold operators ; the one where they had a perfect knowledge and familiarity with the parts ; the other were so ignorant as not to know the danger ; and that the latter were always the boldest. So with those who dogmatically pronounce their dixit on medical science. We invariably find those who are most ignorant, the bold- est and loudest in their denunciations against calomel and the lancet or what they are pleased to term the old prac- tice. The true physician, the real student of Nature pur- sues his course regardless of such denunciation, trusting to the intelligence and good sense of an enlightened public : he pins his faith on no exclusive theory : he worships nei- ther at the shrine of Hahneman or Priesnitz, but at that of nature, the unerring work of his Creator. He does not discard the accumulated experience of centuries to follow some will-o'-the-whisp theory, neither does he learn " jurare in verba magistri ;" but comparing hisknowledgeofNature'i laws with the experience of those who have preceded him, and his observation, he draws his own conclusions,— re- membering the parable of our Lord and Savior, inasmuch

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as ye have done it unto the least of these ye have done it unto me ; and trusting as a reward of all his toil and la_ bor, in the last great day to receive the welcome, well done thou good and faithful servant.

fPllHJ! T WWtW*

MEDICAL INSTITUTION OF CEAEVA COLLEGE.

The session of the Medical Lectures commences on the FIRST WEDNESDAY OF MARCH, 1851, and continues sixteen weeks.

CHARLES BRODI1EAD COVENTRY, M. D.,

Professor of Obstetrics and Medical Jurisprudence:.

JAMES WEB8TER. M. D.,

Professor of Anatomy mid Physiology.

JAMES IIADLEY, M. D.,

Professor of Chemistry mid Phi

CHARLES ALFRED LEE. M. D.,

Professor of Materia Medico and General Pathology.

JAMES BRYAN, M. D.,

Professor of the Principles and Practice of Surgery.

WILLIAM SWEETSER, M. D.,

Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine. GEORGE \V. FIELD, M. D.,

Demonstrator of Anatomy.

Fee for each ticket is 810, except Chemistry, which is $12 : Matriculation ticket, $3 ; amounting in all to 805. The fee for each course is uniformly required on taking out the ticket; or the whole amount may be deposited with the Registrar at the com- inencement of the term, which is recommended ; in which case the Student receives a general ticket which entitles him to the tickets of all the Profei

The ticket of each Professor is required, in all cases, to be taken within ten days from the commencement of his course.

rl he Anatomical Rooms will be open at an early period of the session, under the direction of the Demonstrator, subject to the general supervision of the Professors.

In consequence of the many evils attendant upon the extension of credit, the rules of the Institution require that the Tickets shall be paid for in cash, or bills current at the residence of the Student.

CHARLES A. LEE, M. D., Dean. Jame< IIaulev, M. D., Registrar.